Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Five science fiction novels about sheep

For Tor.com the author tagged five science fiction novels about sheep, including:

The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner

John Brunner’s dystopic novel strives to be the environmentalist equivalent of Brave New World or 1984, and while it doesn’t quite attain that level of prophecy or poignancy, it remains a fascinating look at a future that might have been—and in some ways resembles what has actually come to pass.

In Brunner’s future, air pollution is so bad that everyone wears gas masks. The infant mortality rate is soaring, and birth defects, new diseases, and physical ailments of all kinds abound. The water is undrinkable—unless you’re poor and have no choice. Large corporations fighting over profits from gas masks, drinking water, and clean food tower over an ineffectual, corrupt government.

Admittedly, the sheep in this book are metaphorical, but there’s something to be said for metaphorical sheep. They don’t eat as much, for example, and are less likely to get caught in a fence.